Topic: Crisis

‘Zero Covid’ Experts Put Grandkids at Risk

– July 27, 2021

“We should learn from this episode, though. Worse pandemics will emerge, perhaps even where some tough restrictions are justified. But we need to learn how to fight pandemics without permanently altering our way of life.” ~ Adam Creighton

Crisis, Economic Education, Government

Prices Have Work To Do, Even in Pandemics

– July 26, 2021

“It has been the government’s failure to not let market prices work at all and instead address the pandemic with command-and-control policies that have created shortages, thwarted innovation, and distributed vaccines based not on what will most internalize the spillover benefits of vaccination but based on political considerations about who should enjoy the private benefits of vaccination.” ~ Art Carden

Authoritarianism, Crisis, International

The False Promise of Sanctions and Isolation

– July 25, 2021

“Our current approach of alienation and intimidation only promises disappointment on both sides. Although there is no guarantee that warming relations would result in the liberal democratic reforms that the US desires for Cuba, anything would be better than the lose-lose policy of economic warfare.” ~ Ethan Yang

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Government

Why Government Lockdowns Mostly Harm the Poor

– July 23, 2021

“These irresponsible government actions are especially acute and more harmful in developing countries and among the poor because most workers can’t afford to sacrifice weeks or perhaps months of income, only to be confined to what is effectively house arrest.” ~ Michael N. Peterson

Crisis, Government, History

Owl Creek Bridge Redux?

– July 23, 2021

“Sometimes I feel like the entire world is in its final throes as humanity’s storyline becomes increasingly surreal. Judging by how often I hear other people say ‘unbelievable,’ ‘beyond belief,’ or ‘incredible,’ many others seem to feel likewise.” ~ Robert E. Wright

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Science

No Science Is Ever Settled

– July 22, 2021

“If you think science is when people of authority agree, you’re not just naïve but heavily deluded. Stop venerating science in the singular and start embracing its core, plural, and contentious ethos: that plenty of people are wrong about almost everything, all the time. Even – perhaps especially – those with lots to lose.” ~ Joakim Book

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Economic History

Sanctions Against South Africa and the Cuban Embargo

– July 22, 2021

“The sanctions undoubtedly had psychological and moral effects, just like the US embargo on Cuba. Neither Levy nor Lowenberg and Kaempfer–or any followup literature I’ve been able to find–thinks these effects have as much explanatory power as apartheid’s inefficiency, growing internal political opposition, and the fall of the Soviet Union.” ~ Art Carden

Authoritarianism, Crisis, History

The Bad and the Very Bad

– July 21, 2021

“Tocqueville wrote Democracy in America in the hope of preventing the death of liberal civilization. For Tocqueville, liberal civilization was a somewhere to be defended by its sons and daughters. Throughout his famous work, he expresses hope. Heeding his warning enhances our prospects.” ~ Daniel B. Klein

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Science

Suppression Plans Straight From CCP Play Book

– July 21, 2021

“Perhaps we have advanced as a society since those pandemic plans of 2019? If so, it’s towards a more authoritarian, controlling future. As part of its 100th anniversary celebrations this year, the Chinese Communist Party might count the successful export of disease management.” ~ Adam Creighton

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Government

Why “Good” People Enable Totalitarians

– July 21, 2021

“Forces are acting to paralyze the human spirit. We should deceive ourselves no longer. Without the consent and assistance of good people, totalitarians have no power. Governments, Mises warned, ‘become liberal only when forced to by the citizens.'” ~ Barry Brownstein

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Government

A Closer Look at Trump’s Lawsuit Against Twitter

– July 19, 2021

“The lawsuit ultimately hinges on whether or not Trump’s team can find sufficient evidence that these social media giants were/are colluding with the state to suppress free speech. If so, that would be an issue that everyone from all political persuasions should be concerned about and hope to defeat.” ~ Ethan Yang

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Government

Beware of Totalitarian Scare-Mongering

– July 19, 2021

“Perspective matters. Truth matters. Failure to provide either is an easy way to dupe people into accepting from the state an awful offer that they certainly should refuse.” ~ Donald J. Boudreaux